Supported by Vatican Secret Archives, Michael Hesemann puts to rest widespread deception about Pius' decisions, reveals how he saved nearly a million Jews during Holocaust

NEWS PROVIDED BY
Carmel Communications
Aug. 2, 2022

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 2, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- There is only one credible source when it comes to understanding what Pope Pius XII did to subvert Hitler and save thousands upon thousands of Jews and Catholics during the Holocaust: Michael Hesemann's new book, THE POPE AND THE HOLOCAUST: PIUS XII AND THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVES (Ignatius Press). Hesemann's access to the Vatican Secret Archives in 2020 revealed a multitude of documents that leave no doubt of Pius' wisdom and acts as a shrewd diplomat to subvert the power of the Nazis.

It wasn't only Hesemann, an archival and archaeological researcher, who had access to the documents at the Vatican Secret Archives as he prepared to write THE POPE AND THE HOLOCAUST in March 2020. There were 25 international historians who were granted access to the recently declassified wartime files of the Holy See, including David Kertzer, whose newly released book on the very same subject, The Pope at War, is a blatantly dishonest work against Pius' efforts to save the Jews while precariously balancing decisions to remain quiet in public and, at the same time, to work tirelessly in private against the Third Reich. Kertzer quotes many documents in the Secret Archives in full but withholds critical information on context – THE POPE AND THE HOLOCAUST gives the whole story.

THE POPE AND THE HOLOCAUST traces Eugenio Pacelli's (Pope Pius XII) fight for peace in the 1930s and 1940s, including his years as apostolic nuncio in Germany, where he resisted Nazism. Even some of his most controversial moves, such as the 1933 Vatican concordat, were made to protect Jewish and Christian lives. What emerges clearly from Hesemann's evidence is a portrait of a man radically committed to the Jews and the revelation God gave to them.

"This dramatically illuminating book should finally put to rest the calumnies against Pius XII, whose actions saved more Jews during the Holocaust that any other single individual," said Robert Reilly, author of America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding. "Hesemann tells this story in an entirely gripping manner and explains why Pius had to do this work quietly and often covertly. While the book reads like a thriller, its documentation is thorough, compelling and definitive."

For more information, to request a media review copy, or to schedule an interview with Michael Hesemann, please contact Kevin Wandra (404-788-1276 or [email protected]) of Carmel Communications.

SOURCE Carmel Communications

CONTACT: Kevin Wandra, 404-788-1276, [email protected]